Another sickening Steve Schmidt statistic: Mott head coach wins 20 games for 16th consecutive season, and who is Marshawn Norris?

File photoMott Community College head coach, Steve Schmidt, led the Bears to their 20th victory of the season Wednesday at Schoolcraft. It marks Schmidt's 16th consecutive season of 20 or more wins.

LIVONIA, Michigan -- The Mott Community College Bears won their 20th game of the season Wednesday night against Schoolcraft, 87-58. It's the 16th consecutive season that Steve Schmidt's Bears have won 20 games.

"Winning 20 games in college basketball is kind of a good gauge of what kind of team you have," said Schmidt. "All I can think of is that it's an achievement that couldn't be done without so many great players over the years. It's a testament to the quality of players that I've been fortunate enough to coach. They are the ones who have made such an achievement possible."

The Bears were led by freshman Bobby Lewis, who scored a game-high 20 points.

"I feel like we are getting back to the way Mott teams typically play," said Schmidt, whose team had 22 assists against Schoolcraft. "We played unselfishly and with a lot of energy. And we mixed things up, defensively. That is something we have not been able to do in some time."

The Bears are 11-1 in the MCCAA and 20-4 overall.

Mott returns to action at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday at home versus Alpena.

It's just insanity

How can any coach, at any level, win 20 games in 16 consecutive seasons? That is just flat-out ridiculous. What may even be more laughable, however, is that once this year's team wins 25 games (which, of course, it will), Schmidt will have hit that mark in 14 consecutive seasons.

Journal News ServiceMarshawn Norris, from Napoleon High School and one of the top senior guards in Michigan, is being recruited by Mott Community College head coach, Steve Schmidt. Norris is a small school player with big school game.

Ever heard of a quadruple-double in high school? Yeah, neither have I. As far as I can tell, it has only happened once this year. The feat was accomplished by one of Schmidt's recruiting targets for 2009, Napoleon's Marshawn Norris.

I saw Norris a couple times this summer and he can really fill it up, even against top competition. Steve Bell, Mlive's resident statewide hoops guru, told me that Norris could be the state's best senior guard based purely on talent. Bell should know, of course. He coached AAU basketball against Norris three times this summer and watched him score 100 points in those games.

Schmidt has not formally offered a scholarship, but I would not be surprised to see it happen in the next week. Schmidt did make the trip to Nap-town earlier this week to see a win over Jonesville, and he wouldn't do that if he weren't fairly serious.

It is also worth noting that if Schmidt offers Norris, it would be the earliest scholarship I've seen him offer in three years on the beat.

More news and notes

--Mott sophomore Damon Franklin finally snapped out of a multi-game scoring slump with 15 against Schoolcraft. Franklin, who entered the season as a starter, has recently found himself relegated to the bench after numerous lackluster performances on the defensive end. Schmidt is still looking for some way to get Franklin to come correct. More often than not, the 6-5 swingman is the most athletic player on the floor -- he just doesn't play like it all the time.

--Three teams in the MCCAA have already clinched spots in the NJCAA District 8 tournament to be played at Mott next month: No. 8-ranked Mott and no. 12-ranked Oakland, who split their season series, and Henry Ford Community College.

--There were four division I schools in attendance at last night's game against Schoolcraft: University of Detroit, Oakland University, East Tennessee State and Central Michigan. Keep in mind that East Tennessee State, a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, currently has two former Bears in its starting lineup: Kevin Tiggs (top scorer in the conference ) and Greg Hamlin, both Flint kids. Most of the schools are after All-American Deandre Nealy, but I also know that both Bobby Lewis and Josh Smith (both freshman guards) rate pretty high on the recruiting totem pole.